Life Casting with Alginate or Silicone

Life casting is the term used to describe replicating living tissue such as hands, arms and faces. There are several products that were designed for life casting. The first is alginate which is a seaweed-based product. Alginate is sold as dental-grade (prosthetic-grade) which takes approximately 3-4 mintues to set up.

Smooth-On's Body Double Silicone is a long lasting silicone rubber that can be applied directly to the skin to make molds of the face, hands and other body parts. The rubber cures quickly and will reproduce perfect detail. Unlike alginates, which are good for one only casting Body Double will last for many castings of almost any material including plaster.

. Latex will stick to all hair particles and it takes a long time to cure, so your friend may have to sit around for a few weeks until you have built up thick enough layers to have a strong mold!